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Autistic son gives mom plenty to appreciate every day
Jeannie Hughes helps her autistic son, Kyle, play the xylophone at halftime of Spring Valley High School football. Kyle has been in the marching band for two years.
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Kyle Hughes is a 17-year-old student at Spring Valley High School with autism. Throughout his life, his mother, Jeannie Hughes, has given him every opportunity to participate in or try anything he wanted. During the past two years, she has given up more than 1,000 hours to help her son play the xylophone in the Timberwolves marching band.
When you sit down and talk to Jeannie Hughes, one of the first things she says is how thankful she is to be Kyle's mom.
"I am very blessed. I can't think of a bigger honor for God to bestow on me," she said. "The fact that God chose me to be Kyle's mother is an honor."
Faith plays a key role in the Hughes family. It has to. Jeannie Hughes works midnight to 9 a.m. at the post office, sleeps for a few hours, then drives from the family's Westmoreland home to Spring Valley High School for her son's afternoon band class.
She's also at every marching band practice, football game and competition. She learns the music so she can guide the mallets in Kyle's hands.
"It's an undying love," Spring Valley band director Tom Chaffin said. "It's amazing to see that come from a parent. I've had a lot of kids in band all four years, and I never met their parents."
Of all the things that Kyle Hughes has done, his mother said marching band was the one thing he communicated to her.
"His expressive communication is almost nonexistent," she said. "Give him choices, and he can make it. Kyle is very intelligent. You can see he's processing it. He just can't get it out."
But last summer, Jeannie Hughes said it was Kyle who made his own decision.
"He just said 'marching band' out of the clear blue," she said. "It wasn't a choice. He just said it. He must have been thinking about it for a while."
It seems that Kyle, whether he's given a choice or not, always does what would seem to be most challenging. He has a green belt in Tae Kwon Do, plays in the Challenger baseball league and is in Boy Scout Troop 88 for boys with special needs.
But music, Jeannie Hughes said, is his passion. The family listens to KLove, a Christian radio station with signals all around the country. It's Kyle's favorite.
"He knows all the words," Jeannie Hughes said. "And he loves Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin."
He started playing music in middle school, the snare drum in the Vinson Middle School band. Since then, he's also taken piano lessons and has expressed an interest in learning to play the trumpet. Jeannie Hughes thinks it stems from watching his older sister, Tia, participate in band when she was at Spring Valley.
Now, others are watching him, learning something much more important than a song.
"He works really hard, and she is so dedicated," said sophomore Kati Waller, who plays the other xylophone in the pit. "Anything is possible. If you think you can't do it, set forth and do it."
Student teacher Amy Holliday, who has worked with the marching band percussion pit since August, said she had never encountered a situation as unique as Kyle's.
"I wanted to cry," said Holliday, who is in her last year at Marshall University. "It's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen in all my life. It's given me an experience I'll be able to draw on for the rest of my life."
Greg Deaton, who works with Kyle and other autistic children at Spring Valley, said there's no one quite like Jeannie Hughes.
"Nobody does what Jeannie does," he said. "Thank God for Jeannie. I don't know how she does it. Kyle is just lucky to have a mom like this."
Jeannie Hughes said she makes the personal sacrifice because she loves her son. But she understands that some people are touched by what they see, and she's OK with that.
"I'm doing it for Kyle," she said. "I'm humbled but glad Kyle's an inspiration.
"Never give up," Jeannie Hughes said of the message she would like people to take from her. "Just because they are diagnosed with a disability doesn't mean there isn't ability."
